Navigating Uncertainty: Collaborating for Maritime Resilience 

In recent years, key maritime chokepoints have frequently been disrupted by escalating geopolitical tensions and climate change. This has adversely affected the movement of cargo and caused delays and shortages across supply chains, leading to adverse consequences for the global economy. Given that over 60 percent of the maritime trade happens through the Indo-Pacific, keeping these trade arteries operational is essential for economic stability. This panel will explore how like-minded partners can explore strategies for securing the region's most crucial shipping lanes, and enhancing economic resilience in the face of these growing and unavoidable risks.

Driving questions:

• How will an increasingly turbulent global order reshape shipping routes? To what degree do we need international cooperation to survive in order to keep the arteries of global trade flowing?
• Given that we are in an age of greater geopolitical contestation, can it nevertheless remain possible for major maritime powers to collaborate on safeguarding critical shipping lanes and chokepoints? What institutions and groupings can facilitate this sort of collaboration?
• What effect is climate change having on routes and navigation, both new and old? How can like-minded partners navigate these risks and opportunities?

Panellists

T K Ramachandran, Former Secretary, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, India

Lazăr Comănescu, Secretary General, Permanent International Secretariat, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

Troy Lee-Brown, Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia Defence and Security Institute, and Project Manager at the Blue Security Program, Australia

Nancy Karigithu, Special Envoy and Adviser, Maritime and Blue Economy, Executive Office of the President, Kenya

Matthias Catón, Managing Director, German Maritime Centre, Germany 

Moderator:

Nelson Ayamdoo, Director, Training and Partnerships, Centre for Maritime Law and Security Africa (CEMLAWS), Ghana